With only a handful of league matches left before finals time those who are trying to make a late play for a top 8 spot, full teams at this point are essential. Just as it has been all year long the stars are falling and the cracks are starting to appear. For those who have the luxury of a few loose trades to do some patch work everything will be ok, but after the season that it has been most coaches will be looking nervously towards the next few weeks.

First off the rank is yet another drama taking part in the ruck department. Everyone had just started to breathe a collective sigh of relief after the return to form of Told Goldstein, the rise of Ivan Maric, the inclusion of Jarred Redden and even the promotion of Tom Campbell. But then just like that Johnathan Giles gets rested and Maric is out with groin troubles. After copping more than a few donut over the bye period there would have been many coaches with two frosted donuts in the ruck department last weekend. Now Giles should be back this week as he was rested, however Maric is cause for alarm. There is a chance that the big man will in fact play this weekend, but reports coming out of Richmond town are that he will be “nursed” though out the remainder of the season, potentially even reducing his training load and missing sessions. How will this affect his DT output? I guess we will have to see? Carlton’s Mathew Kreuzer (ruck again) is also out this week with his ongoing groin injury.

This week will / may mark the return of a few stars and potential PODs for those lucky coaches with the cash and trades. Nathan Fyfe is a chance to play GWS after a lengthy stint out with a shoulder a injury and Hawthorns Luke Hodge is 60/40 to play Collingwood in what promises to be a cracker of a game. Dustin Martin has served his two-week suspension after an off field incident (as has Jackson) and should slip straight back into the Richmond team, as should Brendan Goddard after his two-week lay off. Stewart Crameri’s suspension is also over, however his calf injury will determines if he is to play. Geelong should welcome back James Podsiadly after some ankle troubles and Adelaide will regain Kurt Tippet when they face the Eagles in Perth this weekend. The Eagles will be playing with clipped wings once again this week with the likes of Waters, Shuey, Embley, Nicoski and Kennedy all confirmed outs. Jack Darling has also had some hamstring issue that need to be resolved prior to getting the nod for this week’s game. In some unfortunate news Mark Lecra has been ruled out for the remainder of the season following his knee reconstruction earlier this year as has Fremantle young gun Anthony Moribito who has had yet another knee related set back.

Chris Judd will miss four weeks for attempting to carefully remove another players arm and Jack Ziebell will also miss four after inflicting some head high contact. Some controversy surrounds the Ziebell incident with Carlton’s medical reports leaving some questions to be answered, however Both have opted not to follow up the report. Other notable outs this week include Adelaide defender Sam Shaw after a very useful 84 DTP last week; Shaw will miss at least one week with an eye injury. Melbourne’s Jamie Bennell will miss the rest of 2012 with an ACL injury and Sydney Lewis Roberts-Thomson sustained a third head injury so is almost a certainty to get a rest. After playing a stellar 3 quarters Drew Petrie was subbed and is also unlikely to play this weekend. Troy Dickson, Chris Mayne, Andrew Walker and Marc Jamar are all also out this week with various calf injuries. Timeframes will vary from 1-4 weeks, however they could all be back sooner rather than later.

And that rounds it up. The injury list below is from afl.com.au and the Herald Sun. Some timeframes may differ slightly to official individual club releases and people with inside knowledge. So do some research before pulling the trigger?

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16 Comments

Hi guys. Jakub sent this in before the teams were released… unfortunately I couldn’t get it up before hand (sorry, takes us more than just two minutes to get organised for the live show…even if it doesn’t look like it!).

What are everyone’s thoughts on Maric and McEvoy?
I’m trading one of them in this week.

Maric was “rested” last week but there were reports that said he has been carrying an injury throughout the season. Does Jakub or anyone else know how severe this groin problem is? He can either smash out the rest of the season or tail off.

McEvoy has had 3 big scores against decent opposition in 113 v ESS, 91 v NTH and 100 v BRI but can he keep it up? He’s $80k cheaper which is money I want (but NOT need) for my last upgrade.

Mate, seriously. Just drop it already. This is about the 6th time I’ve seen this post this week. When no-one discussed it the first 5 times it meant no-one was that interested.

Quick note though on the ACTUAL article in question here. Jakub, I’ve picked up over a few articles now you’re more than likely an Eagles fan. That being said I would think you know where your team is playing each week ;)
You might find a few less people than expected at Subi to see the Eagles play there this weekend.

Nice work though. In my opinion though the biggest question this week is what the hell is going on with Beau. 5-6 weeks was the initial indication yet now he’s pushing for selection this week. Is it simply a matter of West Coast trying to get him in for the big game against the Crows? Or did they in fact just exaggerate the early prognosis?